Network organizations are made up of numerous cable connected electrical components such as a switch fabric. For example, a switch fabric may be made up of multiple switch boxes with numerous input and output ports depending upon the signal switching capacity of the switch boxes. While the cable connection organization of the switch boxes may vary depending upon the application, typical network organizations allow for multiple signal paths through the switch fabric to minimize downtime when a failure occurs. Failures may occur at all levels in a network organization including the cables used to connect the various electrical components. Due to diversity of network organizations, cables may vary, for example, in their construction, length, and types of connectors used, with each type of cable having a different failure rate and failure mechanism. One type of cable used in many network organizations is a “Y” type cable that is constructed with a single signal path that is split to two or more connection paths.
As an example, a system having a primary transmit card and a backup transmit card, where the backup transmit card is used if the primary transmit card fails, may use a Y cable that is connected to both transmit cards. The same system, having a primary receive card and a backup receive card, where the backup receive card is used if the primary receive card fails, may use a Y cable that is connected to both receive cards. The use of redundant transmit and receive cards is related to 1+1 equipment protection. A network with 1+1 equipment protection reserves disjoint connection paths in the network for the transmission of data. If one path fails, then the reserved connection path is made available. In operation, duplicate data streams may be sent on both disjoint paths allowing for quick recovery in the event of a failure. For example, if the primary transmit cards fails in transmitting a signal, the backup transmit card will deliver the transmission signal to the Y cable and service is not impacted. In a similar fashion, if the primary receive card fails to receive a transmission signal, the backup receive card is still able to receive the transmission signal, since the Y cable delivers the transmission signal to both receive cards. In either example, the Y cable provides the signal path to keep the service operational. Because of improved system reliability, Y cables are used, for example, to connect between input and output ports of multiple switch boxes used in a switch fabric with a 1+1 protection configuration. However, even Y cables may fail, and when a Y cable fails, as may occur over time due to physical failure of solder joints, for example, finding the specific Y cable that has failed can be difficult and time consuming.